Don't Give Up
by VG Jekyll
Summary: He was taught to fight, taught to win... but what if he failed? In a place far from his home, a man wanders around hoping to forget his past. But is his past willing to forget him? Based on the song 'Don't give up' by Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush.


**Don't Give Up  
**_By VG Jekyll_

A small tribute to the writing style of 'The Dark Tower' of Stephen King.

* * *

_In this proud land we grew up strong  
We were wanted all along  
I was taught to fight, taught to win  
I never thought I could fail_

* * *

A man in Muggle clothes came out of the hotel. He dragged a brown leather suitcase with him, big enough to contain most of his possessions, which he dragged to the old Buick.

The man tried to open the trunk but his key seemed to be stuck. He cursed softly, took a step back and kicked with a heavy black armyboot against it. This appeared to be the proper way to treat the old thing as it shot open and slammed with a loud _**bang**_ against the back window.

The man leaned over the suitcase, his brown hair immediately falling around his face like a curtain, and obscuring his view of the car, making it difficult to get the suitcase in it. When he finally had it in the trunk, the man had to use his body weight to pull the trunk lid down.

The key again refused to move in the rusty lock but a quick hit with the man's fist seemed to be enough. The man was already walking around the car towards the drivers-side when a young boy came running out of the inn.

"Misterrrr! Mister Mullerrrr!" yelled the boy loudly.

Gabriel Muller turned towards the panting boy that slid to a stop just a few inches in front of him. He reached out with a hand to steady the boy before he could fall. The boy grinned up at him and pushed a plastic bag in Gabriel's hands.

"Sis' made sandwiches for you," explained the boy when he saw the man's questioning look.

"Oh... thank her for me, will you?"

"Sure!" the boy grinned and started to walk away but then turned around to throw something to the man. Gabriel caught it with some very quick reflexes and stared down at the day's newspaper.

"For if you feel like reading," said the boy and went back to the hotel, happy whistling now his job was done.

Gabriel glanced smiling at the retreating back of the boy and opened the door to his car. He threw the plastic bag and the newspaper on the passengers' seat and plumped heavily down onto the driver's seat. When he started the engine, it grumbled capricious but didn't shut off. Gabriel turned onto the freeway and went on his way.

Gabriel drove for a while till the silence started to annoy him. He reached out and turned the radio on…

"… _I was taught to fight, taught to win… I never thought I could fail-"_

He quickly turned it on another frequency on which they weren't playing that damn song. He hated that song.

"No offence Kate… Paul…" he apoligized to the invisible singers of the song. It wasn't as if the lyrics of the song were bad, nor was it badly sung. It was everything behind it.

Ever since The Battle, he heard the damn song on the radio, and every time he turned the radio either off or on another frequency.

Not willing to waste more time on dwelling on the past, he pushed the sad train of thought away and proceeded on driving relatively thoughtlessly towards his next goal.

_No fight left or so it seems  
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted  
I've changed my face, I've changed my name  
But no one wants you when you lose_

When the sun hung low in the sky, Gabriel hadn't reached the next town yet, but the man needed a break. He drove to the side of the road, turned off the engine of his Buick and stepped out. With a soft slam, the door was shut and he leaned against it as he fished a sig out of his breast pocket. Patting softly on his pockets, he finally found his lightener in a back pocket and lit his cig.

He took a long drag and slowly let it out, closing his eyes for a moment to relinquish in the moment.

Gabriel always did things calmly and relaxed. After all: he had no need too be fast. No one was depending on him. He had no place to be. He didn't even have to wear a watch anymore.

Taking another long drag, he stepped away from his car and leisurely walked away from it.

Following a sand-path for a few minutes, he was startled when the bush finally gave way and he found himself on the riverside of a small lake. On the other side of the lake he could clearly see the ruins of some sort of building.

It peaked his interest and he slowly started to walk around the lake. It took him a while, but like said earlier: he had no rush. His burned up fag already lied somewhere on the riverside, but he didn't really care as he strolled with his hands in his pockets. And then he finally was there.

_Drove the night toward my home  
The place that I was born, on the lakeside  
As daylight broke, I saw the earth  
The trees had burned down to the ground_

It was a church, a burned out church. Gabriel stepped over some rocks and took a short tour around the place. It reminded him of back then…

Once he'd found out about the location of his parental home. He had, against everyone's whishes, gone to that place.

It had been horrible.

Godric's Hollow was a large Muggle village with lots of new and fancy looking buildings. It was clean and beautiful with lots of green. The perfect village. But on the place where once had been the Potter cottage…

It could have been a cemetery. So out of place was the ruin.

A large circle of rubble, dirt, death plants and weeds was still there to see. Outside the circle; green and life, inside the circle; brown decaying plants and death.

Gabriel couldn't bear to stay there a moment longer. It had been like showing a child the bright and loving home of a family, and then leading it to the stairs, opening up the door to the cupboard there and pointing at the dust and darkness, saying; 'This will be your home from now on.'

Gabriel sighed and threw his head in his neck, staring up at the purple sky. It was odd that even though this place reminded him of that place; the atmosphere was so entirely different.

Here the plants were lively and growing everywhere, as if they were finally claiming back what mankind had taken from nature. So it was with a small smile on his face, that Gabriel looked at poison ivy around a random pole.

_Rest your head  
You worry too much  
It's gonna be alright  
When times get rough  
You can fall back on us  
Don't give up, please don't give up_

Gabriel walked to the open space in the middle of the ruin and lay down. He was so tired of everything, of driving from town to town, of living with the memories.

Why couldn't they leave him alone? They, with their messages of hope and love?

All over the world they let that song be played with attached to it their own personal message.

'_Harry, it isn't over yet!'_

"_Harry, come back. We need you!'_

'_We love you Harry, please respond!'_

You'd think they figured out he was quite happy with how things now were, since he didn't reply to their pleads. Perhaps he should-no! He would ignore them like usual. They were not worth it.

Gabriel pulled a face at the now dark-blue sky which was slowly getting darker and darker.

The whole bloody world wasn't worth it, nor did they really need him. After all: he was a failure. He couldn't do what they wanted him to. They were better off without him. **He** was better off without them.

He abruptly stood up and shook the dirt off his clothes. Why couldn't he stop thinking about it. Why did the memories keep haunting him?

Gabriel trudged away from the ruins, a bitter look on his face as he remembered what he didn't want to, and soon he found himself on a small wooden bridge. It was not very far from the ruin, but looked better cared off. Perhaps people still made use of it.

_Got to walk out of here I can't take anymore  
Gonna stand on that bridge keep my eyes down below  
Whatever may come and whatever may go  
That river's flowin', that river's flowin'_

He leaned with his elbows on the bridge's railing and stared down at his reflection. It was not really his reflection though. The face he had lived with for so long now looked entirely different.

His eyes, once a brilliant green, now were a dark, murky brown. His chestnut-brown hair, reaching a bit past his neck, once had been black as the night. The stubble on his chin took away the once boyish features. And he could point out several more things that differed him from the person he once had been.

After all, he was the one who had made this face.

He reached up to his face to wipe away a few strands of hair whicht hung over his forehead and stared empathic at the unblemished skin. How could it be that after so many years of having despised that scar, he now missed it? Of course it still was there, under the glamour, but he couldn't feel it. Only in his nightmares did he feel the soft burn of a creature far away that was extremely happy and taunting him that it was all his fault.

So caught up in his dark thoughts, Gabriel's mind didn't immediately awknowledge the presence that had appeared beside him. He stared for a moment at the face besides his own, reflected by the softly flowing water. It was a pale face. A face he could remember from way back. One that had been in almost all of his dreams.

Gabriel sighed as he stared down at the face. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked the reflection.

The answer came from beside him and it was only then that Gabriel noticed the bodyheat coming from his unwanted company. Apparently the man was standing real close and Gabriel could even hear him breathing.

"I was looking for you," was the calm answer.

Gabriel turned his head to the side to regard his companion with a black expression. "You found me: now what?"

"Now, I ask you to come with me."

Gabriel rose questioning a brow. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm about the only friend you have left," is the cheeky answer, coming from the now smirking face.

Gabriel refrained himself from scowling darkly and turned to stare at the water down below again. "I have no friends."

"Now, that is where you are wrong." The other contradicted him. "Haven't you been listening to the radio lately? Or read a newspaper?"

"Those are no friends of mine. They are just looking for a hero," Gabriel told him in a matter of factly way, and rolled with his eyes, something the other could see in their reflection. He received a broad, amused grin and he scowled, not liking the fact that he was amusing the other.

"And didn't you just say that you're the only friend I have left?" he added defensively.

"Did I?" his companion asked quasi-surprised.

"You did…" Gabriel answered somewhat piqued.

"It must be true then!"

"Malfoy, you are contradicting yourself; it's not logical."

"It's Draco… and logic is overrated anyway."

"Fuck, why am I wasting my time on you," Gabriel finally spat and pushed himself away from the railing. He walked away, hands firmly in his pockets, to keep himself from harming the other.

For the exact same reason he didn't look back as the other called out to him.

"Harry!"

_Moved on to another town  
Tried hard to settle down  
For every job, so many men  
So many men no-one needs_

Gabriel nodded at the man, who gave him apologizing his papers back. "I'm sorry," the man said with a shrug. "We already have so many applicants, and your resume is just not… well let's face it; you have nearly no job experience."

"I realize that. I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time." He turned around and went for the exit of the small store. It was ridiculous actually, that he was even unable to get a job as a cash register in a local food store.

It was however impossible to put 'job: Defender of Wizarding World, from birth till one year ago, quit since I couldn't do it' on his resume.

Making up jobs he'd done was also quite difficult since Muggles always seemed to check the information and if they found out it wasn't true… they did not only not hire you but also warn every other shop in the village.

Being raised as a wizard in such a situation was not so great.

"Hey, Potter! Fancy meeting you here."

Gabriel froze and then turned around. "Leave me alone, Malf-"

At that moment, a young boy ran out of the store and skidded to a halt besides him.

"Sir? Gabriel Muller?" the boys asked panting and Gabriel nodded at him.

"Yes?"

"You forgot this, sir," the boy said quickly as he handed over a paper from Gabriel's resume. Gabriel glanced down at it.

"Thank you."

Draco let out a laugh as the boy walked away. "Gabriel? As in the Fallen Angel? And here I thought you weren't into the hero stuff-"

"Shut it Malfoy."

"You've got to hear me out."

"I never listened to you when we were children, so why do you assume I will now?" Gabriel bit back to the blond as he walked past him to the parkingspace where his loyal Buick was waiting.

"We have matured."

"We have?"

"I have. Can't say that about you though, Harry," Draco Malfoy said as he walked steadily next to him.

"Harry is no more."

"Stop being so selfish, Harry! You're needed."

"By a bunch of-"

"No! By me!" Malfoy grabbed his arm, stopping him from reaching the doorhandle of his car and Gabriel glared at him.

"What!"

"I need you!"

Gabriel stared startled at the face of his one time nemesis and rival. The usually so calm and aristocratic face was now twisted with fury and desperation.

"You have Voldemort, or did you finally say goodbye to him and his merry band?"

The other let his hand drop as if burned and took a step back and away from him. "Guess you really never did know," Draco Malfoy suddenly said with a touch of sadness in his voice. "I was…no, I am a spy. I never wanted that damned mark; all it ever brought me was pain and I regret ever having listened to Dumbledore about becoming a spy!"

"It was his idea?"

Malfoy snorted and crossed his arms. "Don't you remember? You where the one who found me in the Astronomy tower with my father's letter! I think it was about the only time we were civilized to each other, and you told me to go to Dumbledore. '_He will help you_.' I believed that... but instead that old coot made me take the mark and risk my life on a daily basis."

"I… I'm sorry to hear that. But why didn't you refuse?"

"Because Dumbledore knew just what to convince me with."

"What was it?"

"You Harry."

Gabriel's mouth fell slightly open as he stared at the blond. "Me… me?" he stuttered.

"Yes. You. Potter," Draco said, pronouncing every syllable. "He knew that ever since we had met in that clothes shop… I had the hope… the hope to. Well, I believed in you! I believed that a scrawny little brat with a big mouth was going to help me and prevent me from being a Deatheater as my father so desperately wanted. But it didn't help… you didn't help…"

"I… I'm sorry Malfoy."

"You can still make it right."

"What?"

"You owe me this, Harry. Come back with me. Come back and FIGHT! I'll stand by your side; I'm not afraid! Together we will rid the world from that bastard! Prove me that this hope I've had and still have in you… is not misplaced!"

Gabriel stared for a long moment at Draco's face, clearly thinking deeply about what the man had just told him, and trying to make a decision. Draco helped him out by giving the last push.

"Are you ready to become Harry Potter again?" the blond man asked and then held out his hand for a shake.

And this time…

… this time Harry accepted the offered hand.

**The End**

* * *

_Don't give up 'cause you have friends  
Don't give up, you're not the only one  
Don't give up, no reason to be ashamed  
Don't give up, you still have us_


End file.
